NTSB begins investigation into Washington plane crash

YAKIMA -- Federal investigators today picked through wreckage of an airplane crash that killed 10 people in central Washington's rugged Cascades, hoping to determine what caused the plane to nosedive into dense timber.

A pilot and nine skydivers died in the crash Sunday evening as they were returning from a weekend skydiving trip to Boise. Authorities have declined to speculate on what may have caused the plane to nosedive into the trees just east of the Cascade crest.

Investigator with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were expected to be at the crash site most of today, and possibly Thursday, said Debra Eckrote, the safety board's Northwest regional director.

They will try to document as much as they can from the crash, including readings from any intact control panels, the position and condition of airplane parts and any flight control documentation. After that, recovery of the aircraft itself will begin, Eckrote said.

"It's all going to depend on just how badly damaged the aircraft is," she said.

She said the aircraft was not required to be equipped with a flight data recorder, which on larger, commercial planes can tell what happened in the minutes before an accident.

A hunter in the crash area reported seeing the low-flying Cessna Caravan 208 Sunday night. The aircraft appeared to be in trouble, with the engine whining loudly, followed by silence, authorities said.

The plane, a single-engine turboprop built in 1994, was reported missing early Monday. Searchers found it that evening after following the scent of fuel to the crash site, within 200 yards of its last radar ping at an elevation of 4,300 feet.

The plane was registered to Kapowsin Air Sports of Shelton, near Olympia.

Geoff Farrington, Kapowsin's co-owner, said the family-owned company had never before lost a plane. He also said the plane had never experienced mechanical problems.

The aviation administration had warned in recent years that pilots should avoid flying the Cessna Caravan 208 in many icy conditions after receiving reports that pilots had difficulty maintaining altitude and control of the aircraft during such conditions.

Mike Robertson, an administration investigator at the scene, declined to speculate whether the weather may have played a role in the crash.

A cold front had just swept through the area near White Pass where the plane went down. The temperature at White Pass was 33 degrees at 5,800 feet, it was overcast with light precipitation and probably clouded over between about 4,500 feet and 5,800 feet between 7 and 8 p.m. Sunday, the National Weather Service said.

The skydivers were affiliated with Skydive Snohomish, a company that operates a training school and skydiving flights at Harvey Field in Snohomish County, about 20 miles north of Seattle.

Their bodies were being transferred from Yakima Wednesday to Seattle, where King County officials will assist in the identification process.

Friends and family of the victims identified them as Casey Craig, 30, of Bothell; Hollie Rasberry, 24, of Bellingham; Michelle Barker, 22, of Kirkland; Landon Atkin, 20, of Snohomish; Jeff Ross, 28, of Snohomish; Cecil Elsner, 20, of Lake Stevens; Andrew Smith, 20, of Lake Stevens; Bryan Jones, 34, of Redmond; Ralph Abdo, whose age and hometown were unavailable; and the pilot, Phil Kibler, 46, of Snohomish and Troy, N.Y.